ARTICLES

“If I survive my problem, I will never again mention the name of the present. I am so afraid that I will not touch not only president’s present but event gifts I will receive from my relative. Keeping my only child warm cost me made sleepless nights and I have cried lots of tears. If it had to happen in similar way, they should not have given anything to us,” said Dali Khachapuridze, a resident of Kutaisi who a disabled. She applied to the Human Rights Center’s Kutaisi office to complain about her trouble with the Energy Distribution Company.

Gori Municipality Council broke the law when it came to
electing the municipality governor. Although Ramaz Chochishvili, former
governor, signed his resignation on February 7 2008, Gori Municipality
Council then turn around and announced a competition on the vacancy of
the governor on February 18, eleven days later. Thus, the Human Rights
Center’s Gori Office has prepared an administrative suit under the Law
on “State Supervision on the Activities of Local Self-governments”; the
center will file the suit to the regional governor against the Gori
Municipality Council.

In the run-up to the snap presidential elections Mikheil Saakashvili made promises that he has not kept. He had publicly announced that an agreement had been reached between the Georgian government and clients of the Energy-Distribution Companies, and the impact would positive for consumers in both Tbilisi and in regions. They would be discharged from arrears on their electricity bills that accumulated before June 1 2007.

The terrible events of November 7, 2007, which a brutal crackdown on civil and human rights in Georgia, has made it more difficult for Georgia to be able to integrate into North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Our immediate aim now is to get some kind of second tier status under MAP (Membership Action Plan) or some partnership status. Experts in the aftermath of the violent crackdown that took place in November there are second thoughts about fast-tracking Georgia to full-fledged membership. NATO authorities are thinking twice about whether to give Georgia a second chance or not. Even those who voted in principle for integration into NATO during the plebiscite that was January 5, 2008 are asking one and the same question, and it is now more frequently asked than ever before: Is there any threat behind integration into NATO?

Various highly respected international organizations have blamed the Georgian Government for suppressing the independent media sources. UN Human Rights Committee, International Committee to Protect Journalists, “Journalists without Borders” are all deeply concerned because the Georigan government has not investigated not one instance of harassment of journalists or instance of violence being used against the media. These organizations are calling upon the Georgian authority to protect their hard earned freedom of expression, as well as to be allow to maintain the independence of printed and other media sources.

Case on Malkhaz Zhuzhunadze, former Chairperson of the
Akhaltsikhe Precinct Election Commission # 37, was transferred to the
Akhaltsikhe District Court for further investigation. On November 4
2007 officers from the Akhaltsikhe District Police Department arrested
Malkhaz Zhuzhubnadzein his house, based on operational information;
the detainee was accused for having illegally purchased and stored of
narcotic substances (Georgian Criminal Code, Article 260, Paragraph II,
a).

Many buildings have been recently emptied of their
actual owners in Kutaisi, which demonstrates a clear example of just
how property rights are being violated for Georgian citizens. Police
have showed up and under threat of being physically evicted. “Gantiadi
Ltd”a company that is located on Palishvili Street was given immediate
notice and without any cause to vacate the building that it occupies
within two days. The deadline was fixed for February 15. In response,
employees of the Ltd went on a hunger strike for the last two days.

86-year-old Mikheil Khubutia blames the Ministry of Internal Affairs, MIA, and Government for plight. The Ministry of Internal Affairs appropriated the plot of Khubutia in the village of Lia in Tsalenjikha District. It illegally started building an administrative building for the Lia police station Zugdidi on his property. Representatives of the United Nation even assisted them in the effort. Khubutia is not going to stand down and wants his property back. He is prepared to go to court in order to protect his rights.

Population of the Samtskhe-Javakheti Region was initially damaged by the flood in spring and then by subfreezing temperatures in the winter. People complained about floods and landslides; but now they have many problems because of inclement weather conditions.

Makvala Macharashvili, a teacher in the village of Zemo Bodbe in Sighnaghi District, was fired from job for the second time in 2005. The official reason for her dismissal was missing many of her scheduled lessons. Although she returned to her job based on the court decision, the school administration does not allow her to teach.

Flats
were supposed to have been constructed for sixty employees of fishing
co-operative at Pushkini Street #35 in Batumi. However, construction is
being erected at this site that was designed for the employees.
Batumi’s City Hall decided instead to sell the property and put it up
for auction back in 2005. The sixty employees of the co-operative are
left without flats and they only have broken promises in place of the
long awaited flats. To add insult upon injury upon, the hard earned
money that they invested into the construction was never returned to
them.

Teachers of the various art schools in the Gurjaani district demand that they be paid their salaries. Teachers of the music schools in the villages of Kachreti, Vachnadzeani, Velistsikhe, Kardenakhi and Gurjaani have not received their salaries for November and December of 2007. They are also in arrears for the January 2008 salary as well. The arrears are adding up in spite of many empty promises made by local government. The reason for the delay and non-payment, as local public officials claim, is simply the absence of funds for this purpose in the local budget.

The Tbilisi City Hall is know announcing non-existent vacancies. For example, on August 14, 2007 the City Hall announced the vacancies for the posts of the nursery school principals when new heads of these preschools were actually appointed by the same body ten day before. The Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia alleges that the City Hall chose new people for the posts of the principals, and some had not even applied for the vacancies at all, and this was neither fair or legal. However, it is not the first time the City Hall has appointed principals for nursery schools on its own, and without following prescribed procedures and outlined under the law.

On February 4, 2008 the Georgian Central Election Commission, CEC, dismissed Zurab Danelishvili, a member of the Gurjaani District Election Commission # 12 before his employment contract had expired. The CEC alleged that Zurad Danelishvili violated Articles 21 and Article 77 of the Code of the CEC, as well as other election procedures. Regardless of the ledger of guilt or innocence, Danelishvili and his supporters are now accusing Levan Tarkhnishvili, chief of the CEC for having other motivations in the matter. They have come out publicly and told how the CEC, especially its management participated in suppressing freedom of speech and persecuted people merely for thinking a different way (and allowed vote rigging to take place), as demonstrated during recent snap presidential elections.